He shrugged. “I just like making stuff for people.”
“Wren is going to love this.”
“Are you sad that she’s leaving?” he asked. “Mama’s worried about you. She thinks you’re going to be real sad.”
I chuckled, because my family knew how close we were. “Well, it’s hard, because I’m happy for her. And I’m really proud of her. But I like being with her every day, so yeah, I’m sad she’s leaving. But I don’t want to be selfish, either. You can’t be selfish with the people you love, Beefcake.”
“My pops always says that hard times make you happy for the good times. And you’ll get to see her a lot, right?”
The truth of it was that it would be complicated. I had a business to run, and Wren’s training and competing were not flexible. I’d been with her since she’d started, so I knew what she was going back to. It was intense. She was an elite athlete. It was no joke. So this would be a challenge, but I knew in my gut it was one we were both up for.
“I’ll see her as much as I can. It doesn’t matter where she is, because she’s my girl no matter what. So we’ll figure it out.”
“In a heartbeat, Uncle A.”
“In a heartbeat, kiddo.” I winked at him.
“Man. You got it bad, huh?”
“Yep. I’ve got it real bad, buddy.”
“Okay, let’s go take this one to Wren, and you can show her yours,” he said as he carried one heart in his hand and I carried the other. I loved that he’d noticed the tattoos and made these for us.
I led him back to the party, and Wren turned to look at us, a big smile on her face.
“Hey, Wren. I made you this to take back to North Carolina with you, so you’ll remember that Uncle A can be there in a heartbeat.”
Her eyes watered as she looked at the carved wood that he’d painted for her. She blinked up at him. “I love this. And I love that I’ll have a piece of Uncle Axel and a piece of you with me everywhere I go.”
She pulled Cutler onto her lap and wrapped her arms around him. “Thank you for this. It means the world to me.”
“Are you excited to go back? My grandpa was telling me that you’re a real superstar, and I bet it’ll be fun to go back and show the whole world that you’re the best.”
That seemed to catch her off guard, and she thought it over.
“I used to love trying to prove myself to everyone,” she said, shaking her head. “But I’m not sure I care what anyone else thinks anymore. I love being out there with Wrax, that’s for sure. And I don’t love that my last competition ended in disaster, so I’d like to fix that. That’s as much as I know right now.”
“Man, I bet she shines so bright up on her horse, Uncle A.” He smiled up at me.
“She sure does. Prettiest Horse Girl I’ve ever seen.”
“Beefcake!” Melody came waltzing over with a chocolate-covered banana in her hand and a chocolate mustache above her lip. “I’ve been looking for you.”
“Hey, Mels. I’m right here.” He kissed Wren’s cheek and hopped down.
“We’re having a tater sack race, and you needs to help me beat the boys,” she said, and I scooped her up and kissed her in the crook of her neck a couple of times as she busted out in a fit of giggles before I set her back down.
“Come on. We’ll go beat all the boys,” Cutler said as he took her hand, and they walked off.
“What did I miss?” I asked. I pulled Wren off her chair and sat my ass down before settling her on my lap, since there were no more chairs at the table.
“Not much.” Easton laughed. “Rafe is acting like he has ants in his pants because he’s suffering from a bad case of razor burn.”
“We won’t be making that mistake again.” Lulu tugged him down for a kiss. “But you missed our big news. We set a date for the wedding, and Wren is going to make sure she doesn’t schedule anything so she can be there with us in Paris.”
“Paris, huh?” I asked.
“Yep,” Rafe said. “My girl wants a small wedding, just family and close friends, and we’re doing it in the City of Love.”
